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(NEW SEBIES,) \ VOL. I. ( no. 22 . The Devereux Grape. (VITIS .KSTIVAI.IS.) Synonyms. Black July, Lincoln, Sumpter, Thurmond. Sherry, Blue Grape, Lenoir, etc. The Devereux Grape is of Southern origin, and was formerly a popular grape, but owing to its unproductive ness is not well adapted to vineyard culture. Its vigorous growth and free dom from disease, entitles this grape to a place in the garden and in the list of the amateur, and in favorable seasons Written for the Banner of the South and Planters’ Journal. Is there any Real and General Pros perity in the South'? ISY COI~ B. T. lIARKIS, SPARTA, GA. The solution of a question without the aid of statistical information and by argument alone, is scarcely ever so palpable as to satisfy all minds. There is such diversity of intellect—such vari ous inodes of thinking and reasoning, that different conclusions are most gene rally reached, because of the different methods of argumentation adopted. The different datas regarded as correct, by different reasoners on the same sub ject, will readily account for the results. Facts are assumed which vary, neces BY THE CHRONICLE PUBLISHING COMPANY, AUGUSTA, GA. FOR THE WEEK ENDING SATURDAY, MARCH 25, 1871. and soil will produce moderate crops; and like most grapes of this species makes excellent wine. Mr. Berekmans gives the following description: “Bunches medium, very compact and long-sliouldered; berries small, black, sweet, vinous; never rots or mildews; very vigorous grower, but not a pro fuse bearer; ripens last of July, and makes a fine wine.” A. C. Cook. Covington , Ga., Feb., 1871. sarily, the conclusion, according to their strength and the influence they may have in every reasoning process. Few of these assumed facts are facts in reality. They will not always bear the closest scrutiny. They are often exag gerated, and not unfrequently, they are underestimated. Other facts of greater or less importance are left out of view. Facts, are of the first importance in the solution of all questions. Hence the importance of their entire accuracy and their perfect completeness, for they are the controlling power which directs and moves the whole machinery of the human mind. And these thoughts ap ply with all their force to facts of a statistical character. To bring about correct results, the facts themselves must be strictly correct. Figures never falsify, but accomplish their results with unerring certainty, however wonderful. But they, too, must be strictly correct or they signally fail to place the whole truth in all its completeness before our visions. Wesee, then, eschewing all statistics, the difficulties which surround us in giving an answer to the question, propounded at the head of this article. 1 We are but a plain farmer and have never been a student of statistics. We shall then, in the discussion of the sub ject assume our facts with the utmost care and soundest discretion which we i can command. For our object is, not [ to mislead hut to instruct ns far as we can—not to work evil but to do good j —not to join in what we conceive to \ be a senseless cry of prosperity when j every great interest of our beloved land i of inevitable ruin. We shall ignore the j is either languishing or on the pathway fact too—one of th , greatest import-1 ance, as every cautua and sane mind must admit—that good government is an indispensable pre requisite to last j ing and solid prosperity. I Now, is there any real and general j prosperity in the South ? Where are the evidences to he found? In her ! agriculture? She counts her cotton ) hales by the million and multiplies the I whole by tlie price per pound and hun dreds of millions of dollars are the re sults? What becomes of these hun dreds of millions? Where are the fruits to be found ! Where the invest ments? Where the evidences of in creasing wealth and of general pros perity ? We answer, nowhere, scarcely. Our farm buildings remain in a dilapi dated state—our fences are still decayey ! and worthless—our farm stock are cle j creasing and degenerating—our grana- ries are seldom filled as they were be fore the war—our supplies of meat and flour and a large portion, of our corn come from the West, and our syrup and sugar are largely supplied by the I islands of the sea—our mules and | horses are brought to us from grain i producing sections only, though mostly located in the South, and our commerce is carried on in vessels belonging to strangers, and, what is worse still, by ! strangers who hate us and are doing j everything in their power to destroy us I—our manufactures come principally j from the same sources—our banks are ! owned and controlled by them, and our ! railroads are being built and owned by the same people with State bonds en l dorsed by our own State governments 1 —our very lives and property are tnost | ly insured by Northern companies, who reap all the benefits, however large they may he, from a business so remunera tive as to double and treble t|»eir capi tal every few years after paying all ex penses. These are stubborn, undenia ble facts. They strike every reflecting mind with astonishment, but they can not he controverted. Even the guano now so generally used in the cotton belt is brought to our shores in North ern vessels and bought primarily of Northern men, and paid for out of the proceeds of the cotton crop, as the South exports but little outside of that crop. Where, we ask, are the evidences of a general prosperity ? We ans wer that they are nowhere to be found on any thing like a large scale? We admit that here and there in comparatively a few localities, some •of the evi dences are to be found. "We will not stoj) inqure whether the capi tal employed is owned by our own people or whether it, comes from abroad. It is a fact, well known, that a large portion of it was accumulated in other latitudes and that it seeks in vestments here, because it is thought to he more profitable here, than where it was accumulated. Subtract this from the capital accumulated on Southern soil and you get the true measure of Southern prosperity, be it much or little. The truth is we fear that all this talk about Southern prosperity is not only a delusion but an error of the most seri ous import. It comes down here from a more frigid clime than our own and from lips that have too often deceived us to our own injury. It emanates from heads that are too fertile in schemes of plunder, and from hearts that are too cold and unfeeling for the abode of human sympathy. We do not feel inclined to embrace the idea, because of its parentage. It did not originate here or we should have been among the first to discover the welcome truth. It is patent to all that no such fact can he true without leaving every where the unmistakable evidences of it. lsur thousands of water falls would be improved. The hum of the spindle and the rapid click of the shuttle “would be as familiar to our ears as household words.” The smoke of the furnace and the ring of the anvil would be seen and heard from every hill top, the princely mansion and the tasteful cottage would beautify the landscape, wherever, fer tility of soil and health and convenience united—the land would be ours—all its improvements would be ours—the pro ducts of the soil—ot the loom and spin dle—of the machine-shop, would belong to us—we should own the vessels that bear our products off to other lands— pocket the interest on banking capital as well as the profits from the insurance business. And these would he the necessary and legitimate results of a general pros perity. In the absence of such results there can be but one conclusion and that is, that we pay out these hundreds of millions of dollars annually, as ex penses in some form or other, for it is not true that “the Southern people are hoarding their gold for the want of con fidence in greenbacks” to any considera ble extent. Nor are they hoarding it at all as a general thing. There may lie isolated cases here and there but I they are rare. It is a libel upon South ern character. We are too sagacious and enterprising to commit any such ; folly. It is a miserable attempt to flat i ter an oppressed and down-trodden . people into a willing acquiescence of [ the demands of an insatiate and ever ’ present tax gatherer, “who gives but “ten days” notice for the payment of his unjust demands. We spurn it be | cause it is false and full ot rottenness ; Its iniquity we loathe because it is “charged to the brim,” with base de signs upon our purse, to fill the coffers of others and to support the fungus : growth of hungry office holders upon the body politic. We see ourselves, as a people, with oit prosperity. We must be* careful ! not to confound individual prosperity IOLD SERIES,) t VOL. 111. I NO. 32. with the prosperity of the people. And seeing this we are again falling into the same old errors that we have ever practiced. In fact, we are augmenting and intensifying our follies. We are planting our broad acres in cotton, en riching by fertilizers that come from “the very ends of the earth” at a heavy cost, increased in price to us, by the labors of the manipulator—by internal transportation—by an exorbitant rate of interest and by the charge for ac ceptance of the draft by the factor. "We are making all the cotton we can to the exclusion of all the necessaries of life only to reduce the price of the one and to enhance the price of every neces sary. What folly! What madness! liaise our own supplies and after that make what cotton we can, is the true policy. The cotton crop would be clear gain to the planter and, the best of it all would he that it would bring him as much, if not more money, than the large crop could possibly command.— But how difficult the task of convinc ing men of their true interests and getting them to pursue them! It is really a melancholy fact, that the plant er, of all men, reasons less, calculates" less and blunders more than any other man. It may be that he has more hope, even in adversity, than other men. The sale of his cotton at a loss, one year, rather stimulates him to make the more the next year and the next. “The hah - of the dog is good forthe bite.” This is his argument. He is in debt from making cotton and buying every thing in the way of necessaries. The price of last years’ crop was too low, although the crop was much above an average one 1 Therefore he must try it again, hoping for better prices or what is equally as preposterous, for bet ter luck! He realises the fact that the hair is not good for the bite, “but that it aggravates the symptoms in the ex act ratio" of the application of “the hair.” Wonderful philosophy this. It overturns all philosophy. It does more. It negatives all experience, and not content with this demolition of all rea son and experience, it actually brands its devotees as stupid, senseless, crazy, j fit only for a lunatic asylum or “as hewers of wood” <fcc. We should do injustice to our South ern planters, if we were to leave them in the position in which we have placed them. What we have said does not apply to all, we would hope, not to the many , but to the few, not to the intel ligent but to the ignorant, not to those : who read, think and understand, but ; to those who are too wise to receive in- I strnctions, to those who are incapable | of understanding the relation between I “cause and effect”—who ridicule all j all true science, whatever its origin, whether established after long and 1 patient investigation by the most pro found intellects of this or any proceed ing age and sustained by every rational experiment or by the wisdom of God himself in the “great laboratory of nature. No! no! Upon them argu ment has no effect, for it is like “cast ing pearls before swine.” We leave them to their fate for the present—to their “luck' until forced by their neces sities and bitter experiences to learn ■ wisdom, or until education or example shall have their legitimate influence ! over them and their children. This ; muddy stream must be purified or the : fountain of knowledge must be polluted l lor all time to come. And he or they